HAMMER OF THE NORTH v2.9
Scenario for Civilization II MGE

by Morten Blaabjerg

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FOREWORD
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It's been three years in the making, since the first version of this scenario saw the light of day. It was made for the classic version of Civilization II, and was my first attempt at making a scenario for Civilization II.

Since then I've often felt that the scenario could be improved in several ways.

This version is the result, still based on the original idea, but with a new map, based on a historical map source by Dutch geographer Ortelius, with a completely redone setup, new tech-tree, new graphical unit, terrain and city designs, new tactical units and elements - lots of work and innovation to bring the era of the vikings back to life.

I hope you enjoy playing this scenario, I sure had fun making it.

Yours Truly,

Morten Blaabjerg, Odense, Denmark. April 2004.
email : morten@crewscut.com
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UPDATE v2.9
April 2005
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A number of changes introduced in response to fixing the problem of kings/coronation swords only spawning by the first civ to destroy a king. The opportunity was seized to make some general changes and introduce some new interesting events.

* Kings now have to be earned, by drawing the 'Swords of Coronation', which are preplaced on the map from the beginning of the scenario.

* All 'Swords of Coronation' are preplaced and fully visible, but can rarely be taken by units other than Heirs and a few other powerful units (Sometimes a hero can draw a sword, but the best bet are the Heirs)

* All civs start with 1 special Heir unit, which can attack only once, but with a powerful one-time attack. Heirs can be used to draw a 'Sword of Coronation', or as a one-time weapon against an otherwise superior enemy. Additional Heirs appear during the game, some owned by civs, others in rebellion against civs (barbarians). The last may be bribed.

* Kings are unique to all civs, with different unit graphics and slightly different abilities. Christian kings are mounted and have higher moves, viking kings can attack from ships.

* It is possible to have several kings, if properly cared for. For the viking civs, new kings will appear in England, if possible.

* The Danes receive free Viking Raiders in Anglo-Saxon cities, if they have Tributal Taxes and have taken key cities in East Anglia and Northumbria. When the Danes get Feudalism, they get free Drakkars in Aggersborg (the historical gathering place for the large Leding invasion fleets).

* The Norse receive free Drakkars in Norman cities (Normandy), if they have Tributal Taxes and gained key cities of Normandy. The Norse also receive free Men-at-arms in these cities if they gain Feudalism. This is supposed to simulate the build up before the invasion by Vilhelm the Conqueror in 1066.

* More barbarians appear on the map from the outset, to create a quite perilous situation for all civs, which will have a great impact on how each game proceeds. Stiff resistance makes playing the Anglo-Saxons and Scots a decent challenge. Viking campaigns in England are slightly easier to maintain, if played cleverly.

* A new wonder with a short-lived effect is introduced. The Temple of Odin in Uppsala will provice techs already possessed by two other civs (Great Library) until the discovery of Theology. This means however, that a viking civ taking this city, will be forcefully christianized, as they will receive christian techs from the temple - as well as other techs. This can be used as a means to catch up - if pagan weapons have already been used and its time to take a new course. But the short effect of the wonder makes this a difficult choice.

* Also, a powerful viking Ally will appear on the conquest of Uppsala.
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UPDATE v2.8
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Most importantly, the 'respawning king' problem has been solved (creating cities that could not be conquered, if the king was killed in his home city). See below for details.

Secondly, a brand new Tiles.dll file has been included, with atmospheric backdrops, and a new nuke explosion.

Update v2.8 also features stronger barbarian units, which underlines the 'bribing tactics' of the game. Powerful independent warlords can be hired by emissaries or bishops, to join one's armies. They are in fact often vital to win the game.

Additionally, the beginnings of the tech tree has been tweaked to introduce a number of techs that reach beyond the times of the scenario, such as Roman Legacy and Carolingian Reform, prereqs for some prebuilt wonders, and techs that can be taken by conquest by viking players, prior to accepting christian techs. This somewhat alleviates the problem of AI viking civs being too easy to convert to the new faith. 
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INSTALLATION
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CIV2 Multiplayer Gold Edition

1. Navigate to the "Scenario" folder inside your main civ2 folder. Unzip and place all scenario files in a new folder called "Hammer2" or similar.

2. Make a new subdirectory in your "Hammer2" folder, called "Sound" and copy all sound (.wav) files into this directory.

3. For the full flavour of the scenario, make a safe copy of your original Tiles.dll and Menu.txt files. Copy the provided alternative Tiles.dll and Menu.txt files into your main Civ2 folder. The Tiles.dll contains altered graphics for backdrop screens, conquering, settling, praise the king etc., plus altered nuke explosion. The menu.txt contains the altered menu with new commands like "prayer" etc. Skip this step if you will play the scenario without altering these files.

4. You should now be able to play the scenario!

If you have problems installing the game, following these directions, feel free to send me an email about it, and I will try to help.
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ADDITIONAL ADVICE
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Turn on "Instant Advice" for helpful guidance on new city structures and military units.
Turn off "Diplomacy Screen". Otherwise the diplomacy messages might appear unreadable, and you will avoid Anglo-Saxons being represented by Sitting Bull etc. I did make an alternative .dll-file with new leader pictures etc. But it was found too heavy in size to include and upload this with the scenario.
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INTRODUCTION
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In the year 793 AD, heathen men plundered and destroyed the monastery of Lindisfarne, off the coast of Northumbria (present day Northern England). A shockwave of terror ran like a fire through all of Christian Europe, chronicled by monks and churchmen, which has since provided the history of the Vikings with a taint of savagery and bloody adventure. This scenario tries to simulate this horror of the Viking raids, pit against the "civilized" development of the christianized kingdoms and empires of Western Europe.

The Danish and Norse ships were superior to the naval fleets of the Western Christian powers, and their raiding tactics supremely effective. First they would demand tribute, then they would attack anyway, and demand ransom for prisoners. Gold, silver and relics from the rich abbeys of England, France and the Holy Roman Empire flooded into Scandinavia, to finance further wars and raiding expeditions, in Europe as well as in Scandinavia. Much of the riches were used in the intense Nordic rivalries for the supremacy of the North. Danish chiefs or kings would ally with Franks, Anglo-saxons or others in their war against Norse chiefs or other Danish kings. And European powers were not lazy to take advantage of the vikings, as hired mercenaries in their struggles to forge solid kingdoms and medieval empires, lifting the legacy of Charlemagne.

With their clever raiding tactics, the vikings always seemed to profit, in one way or
another. Old customs of bloting to Odin and other gods of Valhalla was strong-lived. Eventually, however, as the development of medieval feudalism, castles, siege tactics and marriage diplomacy took hold, viking kings embraced Christianity. This seem in many ways a clear political choice, opening possibilities of strong alliances with the Christian Church and its holy father the Pope. Harald Bluetooth claimed to have won all of Denmark and christened the Danes, yet his son Sven Forkbeard took up old raiding habits, and schemed a full-scale invasion of England, carving out effectively the Empire he was to leave to his son Canute.

This scenario is about this carving out of empires; the introduction of central institutions of government and production, clashing with early medieval custom and pagan myth; of weak dark age tribal kingdoms turning into strong feudal monarchies, with full-fledged defences and machinery for war. The scenario aims to portray and simulate the motivations and "feel" of the Viking raids, the changes they introduced to medieval societies such as Feudalism, and the challenges christianity brought to the North.
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PLAYING OBJECTIVES
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BASIC PREMISE
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The Vikings can be played savagely and heathen. The Norsemen and Danes start off with very aggressive weaponry and powerful naval units. Viking Raiders are cheap and can attack from ships, and their Drakkar warships are feared all over North-western Europe.

The Viking fleets can strike anywhere on the map within a few turns. They can be content with patrolling enemy coasts for monasteries and monks and initially do not need to take cities. Monks can be easily killed and ransomed, with tribute paid. And when raiding grounds in one area cease to be profitable, ships and warriors can seek new opportunities abroad. Meanwhile, there is plenty of room for more peaceful expansion in Iceland, Scandinavia, in Eastern Europe and the Baltics.

However, the vikings are likely to lose their advantage, if they do not conquer cities that can provide a steady income in taxes. They have good opportunities to seize control of important cities and wonders. Abbeys are rich, and cities with just one Abbey within city range are the potential cornerstones of a more permanent empire.

But there are a few dilemmas to be considered.

Growth and poor production. The Vikings cannot build monasteries, churches, cathedrals, manors and universities, which allows efficient production, development of science and the appeasement of larger populations. As the Viking empires and economy grow (by raiding and military expansion, primarily), the more necessary it is to think carefully about solidifying the gains, building and maintaining city walls, improving infrastructure and introducing political reform.

Conquest and empire-building means learning local customs, and most probably, eventually, embracing the new religion, christianity. Unlike most scenarios, tech-by-conquest is enabled in this scenario, and frequently, the only way to stay technologically afoot, will be conquest. Baptism and other Christian advances open up key advances to improving research, growth and infrastructure, and new political structures (such as Feudalism, which will improve economy considerably and allow many potent medieval military advantages).

Accepting Christian technologies and customs, however, has a downside to it. Monasticism can be allowed to spread in the North without losing vital advantages. But embracing Baptism, learning the Lord's Prayer and accepting the more politically drastical changes of christianity in Viking society, means losing powerful Viking units and aggressive weaponry, end the profitable raidings, and ban pagan beliefs.

If not played carefully, in their rush of conquest, the Vikings will be forced to accept Baptism too soon, and they will lose their potentially most powerful and destructive pagan weapon : The Hammer of the North.

One needs to take considerate care. Introduce Christian reforms too early or too late, and the empire scrambles to dust, from a weak, under-developed economy, from the sudden military pressure from the outside, or from widespread rebellion.
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PLAYING NOTES
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Scenario range :

The scenario starts in 793, and ends in 1090. Each game turn equals three years, which gives you around 100 turns to alter the course of history...
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Objectives :

There are a number of set objective cities in the game. The game is designed at Deity level, and you should be able to win the game in this difficulty (even if just marginally) with some difficulty, whoever you chose to play. All civilizations are recommended for play, but will vary greatly in challenge.
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Instant Advice :

Turn on "Instant Advice" if not already checked. This will give you a good idea as to what all the units and improvements are for, but there are also a few surprises in this department.
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Missionaries and villages :

Christian civilizations can use missionaries to spread the word of Christ to pagan villages in Iceland, Scandinavia and to the east. This is an efficient way to learn new technologies, gain strong allies, and eventually conquer previously heathen areas.
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Hammers of the North ("nuke hammers") :

Once Blood Sacrifices has been built, it is possible to produce these powerful weapons. The sacrifice of unused ships will help alleviate the building cost. Use them with caution as they make a hell of a mess, leaving nothing but hunger and destruction in their path. They are also destroyed upon attack, which makes them less useful for naval battles, than for obtaining key cities.

Take note not to attack cities that have established Breweries. They will thwart Thors power, since he will be likely to go drinking rather than fight.

Note, that if you do not use the tiles.dll file, you will still get the nuke explosion. I have made a small new animation, but it's nothing fancy, I know. If you are a graphic artist, and would like to give it a shot, please let me know.
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Christian advances that ban pagan rituals :

Baptism will make the Hammers of the North obsolete. Learning Lords Prayer, Theology and Lay Investiture will enforce Baptism. Other key technologies will obsolete the Viking Raiders and their Drakkars.
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Avoiding christianity prematurely :

Establish a network of embassies and diplomatic relations to trade and spy on the developments of your enemies. This makes it easier to avoid embracing Christian advances such as Baptism prematurely, as you will know which civilization has the tech lead, and you can attack the weak spots you have noticed while raiding.
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Bishops :

The most efficient emissaries of the scenario. They can be built once Lay Investiture has been researched, to simulate the extended power over the church obtained by medieval monarchs during the middle ages. 

It should be quite possible to convert viking cities to the new faith (i.e. "bribe them"), as they are mostly small, and without Dungeons. Of course there might be some retaliation from the Viking side, so be careful and rich enough to do it properly. Viking units and ships might also be bribed, which will make the game a lot more interesting, if used cleverly. There are plenty of room for missionary activity in Scandinavia, in Iceland and in the east.
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Monks :

For all the Christian civilizations, monks are recruited at random by events, to simulate the independence of the monastic church from the crown. The monastic church acted on its own, although learned monks were often recruited and paid by monarchs to work for their growing royal bureaucracies, which were in great need of skilled writers and clerks.

Monks has better movement than settlers, and are only surpassed by Master Craftsmen, which will work faster and can be produced at will. Use monks to irrigate, build mines and infrastructure, and to sing prayers for the dead (prayer 'p'), following Viking onslaughts. With 'Theology', new Abbeys can be built, by transforming difficult terrain (build abbey 'o').

The Danes and the Norsemen will not receive free monks, but for each enemy monk destroyed, ransom will be paid in gold, or for the Norsemen, profit gained from the slavetrade. Raiding enemy coasts for monks can provide quite lucrative for the vikings.
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Global Warming :

If not enough prayers are conducted, peasants will seek refuge with strong local feudal lords, and thus abandoning the fields, these will grow wild with dense forest. And the coastlines will lie desolate with little-productive swamps. So you better get those monks working!
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Special units :

There are a number of unbuildable, special 'hero' units in the scenario. These include :

* Most importantly, Kings, who represent the power of the strong medieval monarchs.
* Warlords, who powerfully control local areas beyond royal control.
* Heirs, who sometimes claim the throne of the fragile monarchies of the North.
* Heroes, these sometimes appear for hire when exploring barbarian villages.
* Giants, appearing in numbers in the mountainous regions of the North and the East.
* Royal Guards, Thegns and Viking Chiefs, who rank above average units in power, and are quite valuable in the early game.

Many of these units are barbarian adversaries, that can wreak havoc on any unprepared possessions, but they can be allies as well, if they are gained from exploring villages, or otherwise hired at a price by Royal Emissaries or Bishops. Often these units will be of vital importance in conducting successful sieges of wellprotected cities.
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Kings and coronation :

When a king is killed in battle, a 'Sword of Coronation' is created at a designated place in the kingdom. The sword needs to be drawn from the stone (i.e. destroying the unit), in order to gain a new king. Not all units will be able to draw the Sword of Coronation, but powerful ones will be able to draw the sword with ease, and a new king will be crowned.

The king needs to die honorably in open battle, for this to happen. Otherwise, a sword of coronation will not be given. And a king will be created only at his capital, or alternatively, at the traditional site of coronation of his particular kingdom.

A kingdom will be without king, if :

* The king is lost onboard a ship that sinks
* The king's home city is conquered by an enemy
* The king is slain, but all the creation spots for the Sword of Coronation are occupied by friendly or enemy units (excluding barbarian units)
* The king is slain, and the Sword of Coronation is destroyed by an enemy, who by this gains the rightful kingship of the kingdom
* The king is slain, and the Sword of Coronation is destroyed, but the capital or site of coronation has been lost to an enemy

It is possible to have more than one king (i.e. kings of different domains), if :

* One manages to slay an enemy king in battle, and subsequently draw his Sword of Coronation
* One bribes an enemy king or a city, that holds the king
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Bribing tactics :

During playtesting, the bribing issue has been discussed in great detail. Some players believe bribing cities and units is far too powerful in the scenario. Generally I do believe that they are not so overpowerful as is generally believed (although they do admittedly have a huge psychological impact), and secondly, there are lots of ways to counter them.

I wanted players to think seriously about how to counter the 'emissary' or 'bishop' issue, so they were given a potent movement rate and are comparatively cheap to build. I wanted emissaries and bishops to be a king's vital tool in uniting his rebellious domains into a strong medieval empire.

Viking players should take care not to underplay their vast power at sea and at raiding during the first part of the game. Take care not to lose your ships and chiefs to easy bribes, and not to stick to your treaties and agreements for too long - or you will not profit as much as you could from playing a more devious game. The viking civs can lose much foothold and strong units, if they try to hold on to cities, that can not be properly protected. If they rely on proper raiding (destroying monks for gold and looting cities for valuable improvements), they can slowly build up forces, while keeping their sizeable navies and potent raiding forces dominant in the seas. 

However, the psychological effect of bribery is more potent, than its actual military value. If one wants to bribe one's way through, one quickly needs to sell out improvements, which are vitally needed, if one wants one's growing empire to prosper. It is simply way expensive and will kill one's economy in the long run. The only cheap cities that remain in the game are barbarian cities, which should be sought to be brought under the crown of one of the player civs. Combined with other military measures, diplomacy/bribery remains a devious card to play, much needed, but certainly not doable without other forces at hand.

From version 2.8, bribing barbarian units is even more important than previously, which will reserve a lot of viking ressources to bring barbarian heroes and warlords under their crowns. Bribing cities is often not worth it, without knowing for sure, that the city holds powerful, otherwise unattainable units.
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Offensive tactics :

Here's a number of ideas on how to get into playing an offensive game :

* In the first half of the scenario, naval fleets carrying Viking Raiders will often be sufficient to knockout the garrison of remote, poorly protected cities. Take care not to hold on to unnecessary cities, though. You risk losing your units to the bribes of enemy emissaries, if you're not careful.

* Siege Towers can be used to guard monks or engineers building a castle outside an enemy city. Often cities without walls will be poorly defended, but their archers can be deadly to any advancing force. Cities in rough terrain or with city walls, especially capitals, will often need to be properly besieged before they can be taken.

* Often a number of mangonels or trebuchets, alternatively or in combination with the assistance of a number of (bribed) barbarian warlords will be needed for successful sieges to be conducted. Heroes and kings are other powerful units, which may be decisive in battle.

* Search villages for technologies and allies. Sometimes villages will reveal strong units, that can later be sailed to other areas of importance. There's also a risk of being ambushed involved, but in many cases it is well worth the risk.

* Mounted units are best used as an offensive means of defense. Being stronger and with longer range than archers, they can be used to control a conquered area, by seeking out enemy forces and destroying them before they advance on a city.
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Feudal defenses :

There are several ways a strong human player can counter the danger of viking raids as well as bribing tactics being employed by an enemy civ. You can't always protect yourself from devious minds (like another human player), but in a frontzone or coastal areas, where the possibility of bribing or raids are likely, here's what can be done :

* Remember, stacked units cannot be bribed, whereas cities can. Do not stack or home valuable units in cities, which can not be well defended against enemy diplomats, or which doesn't have dungeons or a royal court present.

* Keep a decent military force stacked outside cities, in castles, for counterattacks. Sometimes this will cause unhappiness but you can't have things both ways. Stacked defensive units placed before the city, can prevent emissaries and bishopss from ever approaching a city. Mounted units or emissaries strategically placed in the hinterland of the city will be able to counter any threat posed to it, much more effectively than sitting ducks within city walls. City walls can only be a last measure in case of a siege, they cannot be relied on in place of a well organized feudal defense structure, with strong, stacked, mounted armies in castles at strategic points.

* Build Dungeons when the appropriate tech has been researched. This presses for viking reform, since the tech in question cancels the viking raiders.

* If the threat of bribery is imminent from an enemy player, and the city threathened is important enough, a royal court can be rush-built in the city to prevent any bribery.

* Attain the government type 'Holy Empire' and switch to it, and all cities will be unbribable. In the new version, if a civ holds Aachen, Charlemagnes Legacy will allow all government types to be chosen (including Holy Empire), even without the tech being discovered. This may however require massive popularity reforms, prior to the change, as you may know.
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CONTACT
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I will be happy to hear play reports or any suggestions/comments you might have.

Please send all bug reports, comments, criticisms, feedback and suggestions to my email
adress : morten@crewscut.com
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CREDITS
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Scenario Design :

Tech tree, units, events, rules, quirks and all in-game messages are original.
The introduction text of the scenario is from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.

The map used is a modified version of map of the North made by the 16th century Dutch geographer Ortelius, with allowances made for the placements of Iceland and other North-atlantic islands. The map was converted to a civ2 map file using Paintshop and Jorrit Vermeirens excellent utility MapEdit. Further changes during design stages was made using the really smart util MapCopy, which copies maps from save-games to maps and back again.
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Unit Graphics :

Most units are original designs, with some borrowing and copy-paste of pieces and bits from other sources - notably Harlan Thompsons fantastic collection of "Ancient & medieval units". Credits go to all respective unit designers from whom I've borrowed pieces and inspiration. I couldn't have done this without you! I humbly apologize for messing up some signatures in altering the graphics.
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Terrain Graphics :

Terrains have been borrowed from standard sources, or completely redone, scanned or modified by myself (including the abbey, bonus and sea terrains).
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Cities Graphics :

The feudal styles are of my own original design. Others have been lifted and modified from standard sources or some of the other great medieval scenarios around, among those Bernd Brosings inspiring medieval scenario "Cross & Crescent". Credits go out accordingly.
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Sound :

All of original design, with some borrowing from other games and scenarios around.
The intro music is a piece of the Gregorian Chant "Sanctus".
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Tips, utilities, helpful advice and inspiration :

Carl Fritz and his extremely valuable utils Civtweak and CivCity for editing cities and scenario parameters. -can be found at http://users.sgi.net/~harden/

Jorrit Vermeiren for his valuable CivMap editing device MapEdit -saving me a lot of trouble
manipulating the maps for this scenario. -can be found on the CivFanatics site

Kobayashis interesting and inspiring articles on unusual unit types.
-can be found on the CivFanatics site

Leon Marricks extensive and most valuable article on "Advanced Scenario Design" -learned me a great deal about the inner workings of Civ2. -can be found on the CivFanatics site

Rune Berge for his GIFExtractor util which made it possible for me to enhance the atmosphere of this scenario by plotting in my own GIF images into the DLL's. -can also be found on the
CivFanatics site, which seem to have everything a scenario designer really needs.

Cornmaster, Prometeus, Circee, Kobayashi, JValdezToo, Bebro, Bo Klembt Andersen (BKA), Jess Muoz, Morten Eeg Nielsen, and several others, for inspiration, encouragement, playtesting, tips, and useful and helpful comments in the Civ2 Fanatics and Apolyton forums, for the first version of this scenario.
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Playtesting :

Special thanks to BKA aka Bo Klembt Andersen and Jess Muoz for taking part in the playtesting of the first version of this scenario, and their useful suggestions/play reports.

Special thanks to BKA aka Bo Klembt Andersen, Arthedain and Henrik Lohmander for playing and commenting on version 2.1. 

Special thanks to BKA aka Bo Klembt Andersen, Arthedain, Gary J.Durham, Duke of Marlbrough and Patient English aka John Ellis for participating in the first official Hammer v2 pbem at CivFanatics, and for the helpful feedback that made v.2.7 and v.2.8 possible.
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This scenario was made exclusively using Paintshop Pro, Notepad, Wordpad, Goldwave 3.03,
Civtweak, CivCity, MapEdit, MapCopy and GifExtractor.



